Padraic Ratigan
Professor Padriac Ratigan is the main antagonist in'' The Great Mouse Detective, voiced by horror movie mainstay Vincent Price. Professor Ratigan is responsible for such crimes as "the Big Ben Caper" and "the Tower Bridge Job". A genius criminal mastermind whose ego is matched only by his lust for power, Ratigan's latest insane plan is to kidnap a toymaker, force him to make a robotic duplicate of the queen, and use it to publicly proclaim him king. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong! Only one thing stands in Ratigan's way: "that miserable, second-rate detective, Basil of Baker Street". Professor Ratigan lives in a secret underground hideout where he has countless henchmen sing his praises, light his cigarettes, and cater to his every evil whim. At the end of the movie, Ratigan finally snaps out in extreme anger, and he shreds his clothing, extends his apparently retractable claws through his gloves, and attempts to kill Basil, slashing at him in an uncontrollable rage, any pretenses of mouse civilization abandoned. The battle ends with Ratigan falling to his death off of Big Ben. Although he is a rat, he hates being called one (preferring the description of a "big mouse"), as rats have a reputation of being base, dirty creatures. To eliminate any possible signs of lower breeding, he presents himself as a sophisticated dandy, sporting a full black tuxedo with a pink and purple cravat, white opera gloves (like the kind worn by Mickey Mouse), a black and red cape (similar to Count Dracula's) and a gold cigarette holder. He also has pet cat named Felicia, whom he adored, and therefore he treats her with love and respect since Felicia is loyal to him. Like all the greatest villains, Ratigan has a taste for the theatrical and has a tendency for throwing himself into melodramatic poses and giving lengthy and verbose speeches. Despite this he is prone to explosive bouts of violence, after which he must switch back to dandified persona. Two examples would be feeding an inebriated mouse named Bartholomew to his cat (named Felecia) for calling him "the world's greatest rat", and fatally tossing his lead henchman (a peg- legged bat with a crippled wing) off the side of his personal zeppelin to "lighten the load".He is also notable for being the only character played by Vincent Price to have said actor sing. Ratigan was based on Sherlock Holmes' archenemy, Professor Moriarty. He appeared in an episode of ''House of Mouse (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) when he set a trap for Basil, who thwarted it. He ranked #17 in the Top 30 Disney Villains (One better than Shan Yu but one under Madame Medusa). Personality Ratigan believes that he is superior to everyone around him and as such he expects the rest of the world to act as a chorus that sings his praises. He loves every minute of being evil, gloating "Oh, I love it when I'm nasty". In addition he has no scruples whatsoever, threatening women, children, old men and even royalty and taking a remorseless pride in his actions. Despite his vicious nature, Ratigan presents himself as a cultured and elegant dandy, but this is only a facade to hide the raging, insane monster within. His henchmen are scared of him for this reason and do their best to please him or experience his wrath. Ratigan's vanity is shown by his pretense at being "a big mouse" when in fact he is a sewer rat. It could be that his insatiable ambition and his expensive tastes are as a result of trying to distance himself from his undesirable background. Quotes * "What did you call me? I AM NOT A RAT!!!!!!!!!!!!" * "I'm afraid that you've gone and upset me. You know what happens when someone upsets me." * "My friends. We are about to embark on the most odious, the most evil, the most diabolical scheme of my illustrious career." * "I love it when I'm nasty." * "Article 96, a heavy tax shall be paid against all parasites and spongers. Including the elderly, the infirmed, and especially, heh heh, little children." * "Bravo! Bravo! A marvelous performance! Although, frankly, I expected you fifteen minutes earlier...trouble with the chemistry set, old boy?" * "You fool! Isn't it clear to you that the superior mind has triumphed?" * "You don't know what a delightful dilemma it was, trying to decide on the most appropriate method for your demise. Why, I had so many ingenious ideas I didn't know which to choose... so, I decided to use them all." *"I won!! Ha ha ha!! *"You have been hanging upside down too long." *"Sorry chubby, You shoudn't chose your friends more carefully." Trivia *Ratigan is highly similar to January Q. Irontail from Here Comes Peter Cottontail. Both are villainous mammals, are clad in black, love to do evil things and wrought people in despair, have allies from outside their worlds, both are conniving and clever, and both have bumbling bats as their main sidekicks. But the one thing the two villains truly have in common is that they are both voiced by Vincent Price and they of course both sing. *Ratigan was the first Disney villain to sing his own song since Kaa in 1967. *Ratigan is similar to Jenner from The Secret of NIMH ''They are evil villain rats. They both are crime bosses and both have pet cats and have a whole bunch of other minions who do their ever evil whim. *Ratigan shares few similarities with Cruella De Vil from ''101 Dalmatians. They both live in London, smoke cigarette poles, have henchmen who are responsible for the story's kidnapping , They both smash the doors real hard, and they both develop red eyes while chasing the protagonists. Also, they both go insane at the movie's climax. *Ratigan shares some similarities to the Mouse King from The Nutcracker Prince. One of these similarities is they both have the same type of vengeful fury (Ratigan to Basil and the Mouse King to the Nutcracker). Another is that both of them become the true monsters they are (Ratigan as the true rat he is while the Mouse King as an insanish rat-like mouse). And both threatened someone to get what they want (Ratigan threatening Flaversham with his daughter and the Mouse King threatening Clara with her kitten). *Ratigan also shares some similarities with Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas. 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